Method of coating continuous webs of paper or the like



June 5, 1951 H. w. FAEBER 2,555,536

METHOD OF COATING CONTINUOUS WEBS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Original Filed Aug. 1, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet l June 5, 1951 H. w. FAEBER METHOD OF COATING CONTINUOUS WEBS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Original Filed Aug. 1, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Harry l/V. Faeber I June 5, 1951 H. w. FAEBER 2,555,536

METHOD OF COATING CONTINUOUS WEBS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Original Filed Aug. 1, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 3mm Harry l/V. Faeber Patented June 5, 1951 METHOD OF COATING CQNTINUOUS WEBS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Harry W. Faeber, Larchmont, N. Y., assignor to Time, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application August 1, 1945, Serial No.

608,228. Divided and this application November 17, 1948, Serial No. 60,605

8 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to the art of coating and embodies, more specifically, an improved method by means of which the coating of continuous webs of paper and the like may be accomplished effectively in a continuous operation.

This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 608,228, filed August 1, 1945, now U. S. Patent 2,456,495 granted Decemher 14, 1948.

It has long been known to coat continuous webs of paper and like material, either from a roll or rolls of paper suitably mounted at the Webfeeding end of the coating mechanism, or from the delivery end or intermediate station in the paper making machine, so that the end product produced by the paper manufacture comprises a coated web. In existing coating methods, difficulty has been experienced in obtaining, at reasonably high web traveling speeds, a resulting coating having a desired uniformity of surface. The art is replete with illustrations of those existing methods and although each, whether it be air, brush, dip, or roller coating generally, possesses certain advantages, each concomitantly therewith, carries with it certain disadvantages.

An object of the present invention, accordingly is to provide a method by means of which a coating material may be applied to a continuously rapidly moving web of paper or the like in such fashion as to afford a desired uniformity in the resulting coated surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a method of the above character, means where by a coating material can be applied to a continuously rapidly moving web of paper or the like without impairing the character of the web. The foregoing objects are attained by applying a plurality of layers of coating material successively and in relatively close adjacent stations to the web material as it passes through the coating material.

Other and further objects of the invention will appear as it is described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a view in side elevation, showing a coating mechanism constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section, taken on a plane passing longitudinally through the coating machine of Figure l, and showing the details of the coating mechanism embodied therein;

Figure 3 is a View in end elevation of the mechanism shown in, Figures 1 and 2; and

Figure 4 is a partial view, somewhat diagrammatic in nature, similar to Figure 2 and showing a modified form of distributing mechanism.

Referring to the above drawings, the coating machine will be seen to be formed of a base Ill having an end frame member II and side frame members l2 and I3 on each side of the base. Supported on the end and side frame members is a top frame member l4 formed with an elongated element !5 upon which a tunnel It is mounted. The tunnel provides a means within which the web H can be suitably conditioned prior to coating, as, for example, by means of the introduction of moisture-laden air or other atmosphere through a conduit I8 and its discharge through a suitable connection [9.

In order that the web may be properly guided through the conditioning mechanism and to the coating station, receiving rollers 2!! and 2| are provided, over which the web travels in its movement into the conditioning chamber l6 in which a roller 22 is provided to insure a proper span of the web in its continued movement to guide rollers 23 and 24. From the guide roller 24 the web travels to a supporting roller 25 upon which the web is coated in the manner now to be described.

Upon the base frame in there are provided longitudinally extending ways 26 upon which a carriage 2'! is slidably mounted as illustrated in Figure 3. The carriage 21 is provided with side frame members 218 between which a plurality of distributor rollers is mounted, as will be hereinafter described. The motion of the carriage 27 on the ways 26 is controlled by means of one or more gear wheels 29 mounted upon the side frame members 28 and engaging with stationary racks 3f! formed upon the base member iii. A piston rod 3i received within a suitable hydraulic cylinder 2 is provided with a movable rack 33 which engages the gear wheel 29 and thus, when the piston rod 35 is moved in either direction, corresponding motion will be imparted to the carriage 21.

The motion may be controlled by'any well known hydraulic control mechanism, the details of which form no part of the present invention, and the carriage may thus be moved into the coating position, as illustrated in Figure 2, or into a retracted position in which the mechanism may be readily inspected, maintained and repaired.

In order that the carriage may be locked effectively in its coating position, the carriage is provided with shoulders 34 and 35 having angularly disposed supporting surfaces 36 and 31, respectively. Adjacent the shoulders 34 and 35,

hydraulic cylinders 38 and 39 are respectively mounted. The respective cylinders are provided with pistons carrying slidable latches 49 and 4|, these latches being adapted to engage over the respective shoulders 42 and 43. When the pistons in the cylinders 33 and 39 are moved outwardly and away from the cylinders, the latches 49 and 4| disengage the respective shoulders 42 and 43, and thus the carriage is unlocked and free to move into its retracted position. Movement of the latches in the opposite directions after the carriage has been returned to its coating position causes the carriage to be locked effectively in such position.

In order that the web may beeifectively coated in accordance with the improvement of the present invention, a supply of coating material is maintained within a fountain 44. A fountain roller 45 is journaled to rotate in the fountain and receive, on its peripheral surface, a supply of the coating material. A doctor 45 may be provided to control suitably the quantity of coating material picked up by the fountain roller 45, and suitable mechanism may be provided to maintain the fountain roller in the direction of the arrow indicated in Figure 2.

The fountain 44 may be mounted upon suppcrtingframe members 41 which are provided with a platform .48 upon which the attendant may stand to observe the operation of the fountain and cooperating mechanism.

From the fountain roller 45, the coating material is transferred to a distributor roller 49 by means of an oscillator ductor roll 59 carried upon arms 5| and oscillated by suitable mechanism not illustrated. It thus follows that the ductor roller 59 will intermittently contact with the fountain roller 45 and distributor roller 49 in order to transfer the coating material to the distributor roller 49.

-. In order to accomplish the more perfect uniformity of coating applied to the web, in accordance with the present invention, the coating the path supplied by the roller 52, and the secmaterial is carried to the Web in a plurality of paths. Theapplication of the coating material to the web in a plurality of films accomplishes a great improvement in the smoothness of the surface of the coated web. It is believed that the principal reason for this improvement lies in the fact that a subsequently applied film of coating material tends to fill in the valleys formed in a previously applied film of coating material, thus providing a finished coating having a surface of greater smoothness thansurfaces heretofore produced.

In accordance with the foregoing, the distributor roller 59 rotates in contact with rollers 52 and 53. Because roller 52 is the first to engage the distributor roller 49 in the rotation of the latter away from the ductor roll 55, the roller 52 removes a greater quantity of coating material than the roller 53, and thus starts a path of coating material which will apply a greater quantity of the material to the web than the path supplied by the roller 53. Rollers 54 and 55 transfer the coating material from the respective rollers 52 and '53 and apply it to distributing rollers 56 and 5i, respectively, which, in turn, transfer the coating to distributing rollers 58 and 59.

Cleaning mechanisms, such as wiping blades 68 and 5|, remove the coating material from rollers 54 and 55 which is not transferred to the respective rollers 56 and 51, and thus insure the 0nd two films with coating material supplied by the roller 53. Because the first roller in contact with rollers 62 and 63 in the direction of rotation thereof removes a greater quantity of coating material than the second roller in contact therewith, applicator roller 65 will apply the thickest film of coating material to the Web while applicator roller 66 will apply the thinnest film to the web. Rollers 54 and 61 will thus apply films of intermediate thicknesses, and the result will be that the web H will have applied thereto successively a plurality of films of coating material, thus to accomplish the desired result hereinabove mentioned. It is contemplated that one or more of the applicator rollers 64, 65, 66, and Sl may be driven in such fashion that they rotate at different peripheral speeds than the speed of the web.

The rollers in the distributing mechanism above mentioned are preferably formed hollow in order that they may be supplied with Water or a similar fluid to control the temperature of the coating material in its path over the rollers. 'If desired, certain of the rollers may be reciprocated, the better to distribute the coating material transversely of the web, and the relative speeds of certain of the rollers may be varied, if desired, in order to increase the mixing or distributing action of the coating material along the rollers.

From the supporting roller or drum 25, the coated web is carried to a drying mechanism, ineluding a drying drum 58 adapted to be supplied with a heating medium at a suitable temperature. A shell 69 'is provided around the drum 68, and drying air is introduced into the shell 69 by means of a duct 19 which receives air from a fan i I. If desired, the air furnished by the fan may be taken from a duct 12 at the discharge end of the shell or drying chamber 69 and heated in a suitable furnace !3. A stack 14 may be provided to discharge moisture-laden air, if it is desired to discharge such air to atmosphere rather than to re-heat it. To accomplish this, suitable valves and other connections may be provided whereby the duct 12 may discharge directly into the stack 14.

In accordance with the present invention it is also contemplated that the application of the successive films of coating material to the Web may take place in such fashion that one or more of the applicator rolls may rotate in a direction counter to the direction of motion of the web. For example, with reference to Figure 4, the distributing rollers 55, 58 in the form of the invention shown in Figure 2 have been replaced by a single roller l5. As a result, the rollers 54 and 65 rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the web I! as it moves over the roller 25. This produces a rubbing and ironing effect which tends to apply the films of coating material to the web in a highly effective fashion. The subsequent rollers 56 and 6'? which engage the web with purely rolling contact thus apply their films of coating material to the previously applied films from the rollers 64 and 65 to smooth out the coating material and render it highly uniform in its surface characteristics.

It will be apparent that the result above described in connection with the form of the invention shown in Figure 4 can also be accomplished in the structure shown in Figure 2 by providing positive roller driving mechanism for certain of the rollers in either or both of the trains to drive them positively in such direction as to result in a counter-movement of the applicator rollers with respect to the web traveling thereunder on the supporting roller 25.

While the invention has been described with specific reference to the structure shown in the accompanying drawings, it is not to be limited save as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A method of coating a web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, dividing said first film into a third film and a fourth film, said fourth film being of lesser thickness than said third film, applying said fourth and third film successively to said web, and finally applying said second film to said web.

2. A method of coating a web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming a plurality of films of coating material from a common source of coating material, uniformly and separately distributing said plurality of films and applying said films successively to said web.

3. A method of coating a web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material from a common source of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, and applying said first and second films successively to said web.

4. A method of coating a web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material from a common source of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, dividing said first film into a third film and a fourth film, said fourth film being of lesser thickness than said third film, applying said fourth and third films successively to said web, and finally applying said second film to said web.

5. A method of coating a unidirectionally moving web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, dividing said first film into a third film and a fourth film, said fourth film being of lesser 6. A method of coating a web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, dividing said first film into a third film and a fourth film, said fourth film being of lesser thickness than said third film and said second and fourth films being of substantially equal thickness, initially applying one of said second and fourth films to said web, then applying said third film to said web, and finally applying the other of said second and fourth films to said web.

7. A method of coating a web of paper or the.

like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said Web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, dividing said first film into a third film and a fourth film, said fourth film being of lesser thickness than said third film, dividing said second film into a fifth film and a sixth film, said sixth film being of lesser thickness than said fifth film, .and applying said fourth, third, sixth, and fifth films successively to said web.

8. A method of coating a unidirectionally moving web of paper or the like with a plurality of films of coating material to form a composite, uniformly distributed layer of coating material upon said web, which comprises forming first and second films of coating material, said second film being thinner than said first film, uniformly and separately distributing said first and second films, dividing said first layer into a third film and a fourth film, said fourth film being of lesser thickness than said third film, dividing said econd film into a fifth film and a sixth film, said sixth film being of lesser thickness than said fifth film, and applying said fourth, third, sixth, and fifth films successively to said web, at least one of said third, fourth, fifth and sixth films being applied in a direction counter to the motion of said Web.

HARRY W. FAEBER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 263,998 Toye Sept. 5, 1882 308,353 Furnival Nov. 25, 1884 958,484 Evans et a1 May 17, 1910 1,921,368 Massey Aug. 8, 1933 1,983,690 Behrens Dec. 11, 1934 2,032,211 Hornbostel Feb. 25, 1936 2,218,129 Booty et al. Oct. 15, 1940 2,456,495 Faeber Dec. 14, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 416,960 Great Britain Sept. 25, 1934 

1. A METHOD OF COATING A WEB OF PAPER OR THE LIKE WITH A PLURALITY OF FILMS OF COATING MATERIAL TO FORM A COMPOSITE, UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED LAYER OF COATING MATERIAL UPON SAID WEB, WHICH COMPRISES FORMING FIRST AND SECOND FILMS OF COATING MATERIAL, SAID SECOND FILM BEING THINNER THAN SAID FIRST FILM, UNIFORMLY AND SEPARATELY DISTRIBUTING SAID FIRST FILM AND A FOURTH FILM, SAID FOURTH INTO A THIRD FILM AND A FOURTH FILM, SAID FOURTH FILM BEING OF LESSER THICKNESS THAN SAID THIRD FILM, APPLYING SAID FOURTH AND THIRD FILM SUCCESSIVELY TO SAID WEB, AND FINALLY APPLYING SAID SECOND FILM TO SAID WEB. 